A Night at the Symphony

So Eric and I got to experience a pretty special concert last night.  The lead singer of his favorite band, Phish, was playing with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra.  Now I love the classics, I grew up going to the U of I concerts and then was in band myself.  But this was the first professional orchestra I have experienced.  Oh. Wow. But let me back up.  We went with four other friends and had a lovely pre-show dinner.  Then we actually made it in on time before the show start, we knew how to stay classy!

We dressed appropriately which was fun.  Not everyone got the memo though (as can be seen by the girl in jeans in the background).  At one point I noticed a guy in a tux standing in the bar line with a guy in jeans and a hoodie behind.  And there was everything in between, it definitely made for interesting people-watching.  When the featured act's fan base includes (but is not limited too!) a bunch of hippies you never know what may happen.  Before the show started the producer came on stage and, basically, told everyone to be on their best behavior, it was comical.  But, back to the music...

I zeroed in on the harpist as I was trying to get the proper camera setting.  I just love the harp.

And there's Trey, although I'm sure you could figure that!  Oh the sound, I can't even find the right words to describe it properly.  It was so pure and perfect it brought tears to my eyes and triggered a constant state of goosebumps.  These musicians were so very amazing and talented, although I suppose that is a requirement when a part of a professional symphony!

Some love to the French Horns.

I can't remember his name but he was painting right behind us during the performance, talk about inspiration!

We had such a great time.  The arrangements were just perfect, I would never have guessed that they were the songs of a jam band.  And then they encored a Beatles song (Lullaby) and I about cried.  It was, by far, my favorite musical experience to date.  We will definitely be frequenting the symphony more often. 

Deliciously Evil

Chocolate chip cookies are the first recipe I remember following when I was baking with my Mom as a kid. We baked together so often that I eventually had it memorized, and still do.  When I moved to Colorado I realized that some adjustments may be required to my cooking skills to account for the high altitude (many of the advantages to  living a 5,000 feet, also we have more red blood cells, hooray for hemoglobin!).  When I researched this the answers were all very vague and basically amounted to, "you just have to play around with recipes until they work" by adding less baking soda, more sugar, etc.  Water definitely boils faster.  So my beloved cookies, while still delicious, always turn out very flat, and I can't bring myself to "experiment" with the recipe.  Which brings me to these amazing little squares. 

I had the craving for a dense chocolate chip cookie bar and knew that my recipe may not stay thick and chewy if I put the in bar form.  A little googling later and success!  I settled on this recipe. 

Um, yeah. The picture doesn't really do them justice. They were a little too good, I could not pass the pan without grabbing one, so I suggest cutting the squares small!  The only change I made to the recipe was that I did not melt and cool the butter, just softened in the microwave on defrost for 30 sec or so.  The dough is the consistency of traditional cookie dough so I just got my fingers a little wet and pressed them in the pan by hand, I greased rubber spatula may work too.

They were SO chewy and moist.  I had to take half of them to work the next day just to keep them out of my mouth.  And, the plus side to bars is far less work than batch after batch of cookies.  So, next time you have the craving or want to make some new friends, I highly suggest that you whip up a quick batch of these little devils. 

When Dreams Collide

Don't you just love stress dreams?  They can either make we wake up in a panic of "Oh my God did I really forget to do that?!" or "Wait, I AM wearing clothes!".  The typical stress dream for me has obviously changed over the years from elementary school era,  which were rampant with the "forgot clothes today" dreams, to high school  angst of not making it in time for tests or boyfriend drama.  And, of course, the college course that you didn't realize you were signed up for until finals time.  As I entered the work force I had the worst of stress dreams, probably because my job working with traumatized and abused children was incredibly stressful on its own.  Now, Nursing has created a whole new slew of fun dreaming topics.  Mostly my brain just continues like it's at work as I process through my shift, sometimes I wake up with "Oh crap!  I forgot to chart about that high BP!".  But mostly it's nothing (thankfully) too traumatic.  This morning (afternoon, dang night shifts) went something like this...

Me and the very large main character from The Blind Side (??, haven't watched this one recently) are driving to high school.  We stop to pick up my good buddy because she just got her learner's permit, so she can drive to school with me that day (because, you know, I'm 28!).  We search and search for a parking spot (at my high school we weren't fortunate enough to have a student parking lot) and realize we are (*shriek*) running late.  We finally acquire a spot blocks away and run through the front door.  We are greeted by another friend who says to me "Good thing you're here!  Mr Old Band Teacher is already fussing about having you flush Mr So-and-so's PICC line!". 

Then I woke up laughing. 

A Valentine-y Day

Happy Day after Valentine's Day!  I hope your was filled with love.  Let me start by saying I have never been a large fan of this holiday.  I figure we should be telling those we love how we feel more often than one day a year.  Plus restaurants are crazy crowded and flowers WAY too expensive on this day, I would rather be surprised on a random Monday in April with flowers "just because" rather than because society dictates such.  All that being said, we were pretty cliche this year...

I must be honest that this was my very first box of Valentine chocolates given to me by someone other than my mom.  And they were ALL truffles!  No weird coconut, maple, or peanut clusters to sort through.  AND they were a surprise by my pillow when I woke up.  I got a little sappy.  We had to scrimp and save the past couple years while I was in Nursing school and have made some pretty big decisions lately, so it was nice to splurge a little.

A more appropriate meaning of Valentine's Day to me is an excuse to make a fancy dinner (still cheaper than going out I might interject).  I think this year definitely tops the list.

 It was pretty delicious, and fun to give Eric his 1st crab tutorial.  He got the hang of it

I'm sending out warm loving hugs to all of you spread from coast to coast and hope your Valentine's was just how you wanted it.  I know I'm feeling pretty lucky (And those flowers in April could help too).

End of Life Lessons

They don't teach you everything in nursing school.  Granted, we discuss most general nursing topics and learn and demonstrate most skills in the labs, but we graduated knowing that you may not place an NG tube or suction a tracheostomy on a real live person in clinicals before you become an RN.  I've learned this quickly that you must just jump in with confidence and do it, even if you have never done it before or only once or twice (and don't ever tell the patient that you've never done it because you have, just not on a live person!).  Nursing school does prepare you to critically think and apply knowledge and you'll get through it, just "fake it til you make it".  Fortunately I did get the opportunity to perform most "skills" while still in school with the support of a "real" nurse.  But some skills aren't taught.

We all know that death is an inevitable part of life.  I have lost many loved ones and grieved those individuals on a personal level.  Being the nurse though is a very different role.  I was dreading my first patient death but knew that it was looming and would happen eventually.   I will always remember this gentleman.  He was a new patient to us and I only cared for him for 2 shifts, he was very sick and declining rapidly.  I knew my responsibility to him was to keep him comfortable, which was the easy part.  I had a great charge nurse that night that was ready to support me as I crossed this bridge in my new career.  I found that the family members holding vigil were also my patients.  I checked on them frequently, drug extra matresses out of storage and set them up in the lounge so they could take turns napping, kept the coffee brewing, tracked down a classical music CD.  Anything that came to mind for their comfort or his I suggested and happily obliged.

When the end came it was very peaceful.  I found myself very emotional though, not out of sadness for the patient, he was no longer in pain, but for the family.  Regardless of the medical situation this was their husband, dad, brother, grandfather and they were saying good-bye.  When they all hugged me and thanked me multiple times I was surprised and slightly taken off guard, I has just done what I thought was my job but it ended up being so much more than that.   I was humbled.  To be able to support this family at such a definitive moment in their lives was a true honor and there was beauty to behold in the peaceful passing of a soul.

I have had the honor of being present at the end of life on 2 more occasions and continue to be overwhelmed and honored to witness the love that is present during these times.  I don't think that hospice nursing is my calling, I'm a little too sensitive to emotional life events (I mean really, I cry at baptisms?!).  But, I am embracing these opportunities and hope that I never become desensitized to honoring the end of a life and the lessons there are to be learned from it.

Snow and Green Chilli

Everyone who doesn't have Colorado experience seems to assume that we are always buried in feet of snow.  While most mountain towns do gain quite the impressive base of snow throughout the winter (like 10-20 feet) we along the Front Range enjoy a pretty mild winter with lots of sunshine.  Except for the occasional blizzard.  The snow started Thursday evening and didn't stop until sometime early Saturday morning.  We got about a foot.

 If I were still in Nursing School I would have gotten a snow day, but, alas, nurses don't get snow days :( Cassidy sure loves the snow

 It's like a treasure hunt to find all her buried balls and random toys. 

Since I have the weekend off I decided to try my hand at making green chilli, I used this recipe.  This was new territory  in my culinary experience and I was kind of excited to buy tomatillos and poblano peppers for the first time.  Did you know that tomatilloes aren't green tomatoes, they are part of the gooseberry family?  Here are all the green veggies roasted up in olive oil, salt, and pepper:

 Tip for the jalepenos: I keep a bag of gloves (the latexy-type) handy and always wear them when dealing with jalepenos or other peppers.  It seems that no matter how much time elapses or how much I wash my hands, when I go to take out my contacts that little bit of jalepeno oil burns like heck, so now I don't even risk it.
Into the food processor they go!

 And add to browned pork shoulder meat.  I diced a big roast up myself, which was a little time-consuming but worth it as I was able to trim most of the fat.  Saute w/ diced red onion and sliced garlic.

 Then add 2 bottles of beer, I stuck with the Mexican theme and used Pacifico (I would suggest a "good" Mexican beer. FYI, Corona does not count) and the pureed veggies.  The recipe did not specify when to add the oregano so I just threw it in at this point as well.  Then simmer away for an hour or so!  

 The flavor was delicious and bright and the pork incredibly tender.  I stripped all the ribs and seeds from the jalapenos so there was no heat (I ended up adding a few dashes of Tabasco to mine at the table!), so adjust that to your liking. 
Now off to start prepping for our Super Bowl smorgasbord.  We are more excited about Puppy Bowel VIII (with the Piggy Pep Squad and Kitten half time show) than the game.  We can not decide which team we dislike less to cheer for, but we will find a way to enjoy ourselves regardless.  There is always Madonna and the commercials.